1st day!!!

This was Presley last year...after her first day of kindergarten.

If you remember, she was VERY unhappy about going to school. For 3 months she cried every day at drop-off, it was terrible for all of us! By December they started a sticker chart for her good drop-offs and by February she didn't even need that anymore! Now she has been going to KTC for a full year and knows what to expect, she is sometimes hesitant but RARELY cries or throws a fit. We'll take it!

 

HOWEVER.......This year was 100% different! She was excited, she was happy, she pretty much thought she ruled the school since she knew exactly what to expect!

Who would've thought they would need sweatshirts for the first day of 1st grade and the 1st day of 'sophomore' year at preschool! Both girls had awesome dropoffs and no tears!

OMG! I LOVE THESE GIRLS! Their smiles just melt my heart and bring tears to my eyes!  The most challenging and rewarding thing in life is being a parent BY FAR!

 

Adventureland

Finally we broke down and did our Adventureland trip! We went with Sam, Scott and Boston which works out great for all of us. The kids can ride with each other and if the adults want to ride we have other people to watch the kids for us!  We did decide to take Piper with us this year, knowing that she doesn't always need a nap and hoping she would like to ride some rides! We got there at 10 am....and went straight to the log ride b/c we wanted to beat the crowds! All of us rode it...even Piper, she was not impressed and kept her head down against Steve the whole time.

But that didn't stop her from being able to try other rides (thank goodness!)

While the group went to ride the Outlaw, I took Piper to ride the little boats by herself....she was hesitant, but she did it and loved it! :)

Even Boston is still a little hesitant of some rides which makes him the perfect partner for Piper! Presley often thinks she is took old or cool to ride on some of the little kid rides!

She was tall enough for the Tornado...and the 3 of us rode it! I was nervous for her but she says she liked it. I haven't rode on it in years and that sucker whips you around like crazy!

We did rides and grabbed some lunch and then headed to the waterpark, it was a little overcast but the water was actually pretty nice. Piper eventually got up the courage to go down the little water slide!

Presley and Boston did so good in the kid pool (3 ft deep) having fun on the slides and 'swimming'.

The others did a couple more slides and pools and Piper and I hung out while she ate her popsickle. Such a ham! I think she watches her sister pose for the camera too much!

and one last ride on the little boats!

We made our way out of the park about 6 pm....which the kids did fantastic for a full day of fun and we would've stayed longer but the storm clouds were rolling in. We honestly didn't get to ride everything that Presley wanted to since we spent 3 hours in the water park but I'm so glad they both had fun and were SO good for us! Successful day of fun before school starts!

 

Yesterday we tried to sleep in...Piper now has a habit of getting up at 8 and slowly creeping into our room and I can hear the sucking ofher pacifer and she is standing next to my side of the bed (always my side!), I pick her up and put her in bed with us and snuggle for as long as we can.

Steve worked on the shed again...it's about 90% done! Woohoo! The girls and I just hung out all morning, they played good and drove me crazy, I cleaned, did laundry, picked up and just got ready for the week ahead. Then we had Piper's meet the teacher at 2 pm, so the 3 of us girls went very briefly. She has spent time in her new room, one of her teachers was her teacher last year, so it wasn't THAT different for her. New class, new locker, big kid side of the building but it was good to exposure her to everything. Then we headed over to Holly and Jerry's. They decided to have some family and friends over to 'celebrate' Jerry's accomplishment with his play. The weather was perfect and it was nice to see everyone. The girls played good with the other kids, we all ate and talked and then we headed home about 5:30 since it was a school night!!! :)

End of Summer

We had a busy week, Tuesday was P's last day at KTC for the summer. Wednesday my mom was nice enough to watch her for the day for us. I had taken Thursday and Friday off to stay home. So Thursday Presley and I had a semi-girls day that was short-lived b/c she just wasn't interested. We went and got back-to-school pedicures with Grandma and then we all had lunch. We still haven't done any back to school clothes shopping so we went to VW Mall. OMG, that girl knows how to push my buttons. We get to the mall and she says she is hungry....you know 15 minutes after we had lunch that she only ate half of! Then we go into the devils' store (aka Justice) and she knows that we have a rule of no glitter (we literally rub our hands on the shirt, if it comes off on our hand, we can't buy it!)...she was more interested in the stuffed animals (because we only have 300 of those!), headbands (because we only have 10 of these that she never wears) and hand sanitizer (can't blame her but we can get that at Target for way cheaper). We did get a couple shirts and headed to Childrens' Place which normally has things that she likes...not this time...she was 'tired of walking'....halfway thru the mall? Yeah, ok. So we found a sale shirt at Von Maur (b/c I had to say no to the $45 dress and the $45 Iowa Hawkeyes shirt, I'm just too cheap to spend that kind of money on a 6 year old).

 

We did some cleaning and hanging out, played some games, ate some snacks and got ready for Grandma to come over to watch the girls for a couple hours. We bought tickets to go see Jerry in his play and went and got dinner at Malo. Malo was so good, highly recommended!! The play was also VERY good, everyone did a great job and I'm so happy that he had the determination and willingness to commit himself to that experience!

 

Friday I had both girls home with me b/c of no daycare. I made them hair appointments for that morning to get us up and out of the house at a decent time! Piper only got an inch cut off and Presley two inches, neither one that drastic of a change but they did good!

After the hair appt, it was 9:20....and you don't realize how much is NOT open before 10 until you are trying to find something to keep you occupied before 10 on a Friday! We decided to enjoy the awesome weather and walk around the pond at Jordan Creek. The girls loved it and did so good, next time we need to remember bread to feed the ducks! 

Her new smile?! With no upper lip showing? Not sure why, but it is dorky!!

And the hair is still shaggy!

 Grandma got them umbrellas and they love them!

  Of course, meet the teacher is in the middle of the day....so at 2:30 we went with the rest of Johnston to see her class and meet her teacher. She was nervous but I think a little excited too (heck she agreed to pictures!) So we found her desk and she is excited that she sits hear two of her friends.

(got her teacher in the background!)



After this we went home, Steve worked on the shed and got dinner ready and we just enjoyed the great weather! (This was basically our chance to go to the fair and we made the decision to pass for the 2nd year in a row! Tear!) We had promised Presley a fire pit night before school started, so this was the last chance for this too. She was tired and was asleep on the couch by 10 and that is when some of our new neighbors came over to hang out for a while....and before we knew it, it was 1:30 am! We are too old to do that! :) But it was fun and good to get to know them better!

Week/Weekend in review

We are still having minor computer problems so I just can't find the patience more than once a week to blog!

Last Monday we found out Presley's 1st grade teachers name....Ms. Mulholland. She is an older lady (b/c we got last years yearbook out and looked!) (Steve was hoping for the younger, hotter teachers! HA). We did find out that one of her friends is in her class, so that was a nice relief!

Wednesday we found out that she got moved up to the next class at gymnastics! She's only been going there since May and has learned SO much! She actually did some one-handed cartwheels tonight! We were super impressed! We are so happy that she enjoys it and is actually doing good!
Once Piper turns 3 we might try to get her signed up if they have a class for her age at the same time as Presley's.

Thursday we found out that Piper will be moving rooms at Generation Next...she'll officially be a 'sophomore' (P started at GN as a 'Junior')! She'll be moving from the left side (the baby/toddler side) to the right side (preschool side) of the school. I don't want my baby to grow up....but would like her to get out of the I-have-to-do-everything-myself stage!

Friday we had a birthday party for our friends Brock and Jackie's daughter Ava at Pump It Up. The girls has a great time! Presley is an old pro at this place but this was Piper's first time here and they both did so good and had alot of fun!

Saturday I was able to get away with some girls to Lake Panorama for a day on the boat! I wasn't able to spend the whole weekend with them, but maybe next year! I got there about 10, we got on the boat about 11 and we on the water until about 6! We enjoyed some drinks, a lot of laughs and alot of time in the water, just talking! Thank you girls for including me again!

My girl Lisa, we've been friends for 12 years(?) now!

Steve had plans with some boys to go to the fair that afternoon/evening, so he dropped the girls off at my parents house and then I picked them up about 7! Thanks mom and dad for watching them!
I was tired for sure and the girls were not! HA!

This morning about 8 am I could hear the sucking of Piper's pacifer, so I knew she was no longer in her bed, but I ignored it. About 8:30, I feel her touch my arm. I open my eyes and quietly say good morning....she smiles and says 'it's time to get up!'. I guess it probably was. We hung out for a while and then decided to get brunch at 1908 (the service and food was less than awesome this time) before we drove Steve's friend Brandon back to his car for him to head back to Omaha.

This afternoon we did very little, three of us 'rested' (I'll let you guess which 3) and then we did a quick grocery store run and Steve made a great dinner of steak and corn on the cob! We have another busy week ahead of us but I do get to look forward to some days off of work too! :)

Omaha

We've been wanting to get back to the Omaha zoo for 4 years now and it just seems like all the summer weekends keep getting busy and school is only 2 weeks away! So about 2 weeks ago we decided we'd just do it (keeping our eyes on the weather for that day to make our final decision). I left work about 3, got home and packed and then we went to pick up the girls from daycare and got on the road about 4:30. Steve had NOT been feeling good most of the day, even left work early to nap in hopes that would help but it didn't. So I drove and he had the pleasure of dealing with the girls on the way, they were pretty good minus the 15 minute meltdown by P, right before we got to the hotel!

We checked in to the hotel room (thank you Taleena for getting us the room!), and walked a block to The Mattress Factory for dinner! Despite the girls hardly eating anything for dinner and having to 'go potty' (aka check out the bathroom) twice, they kept occupied and were pretty good.

We got back to the room and changed to go swimming, since Steve still wasn't feeling good, I was the lucky one to get in the pool with them. Presley loved it! Now we just need to get her swimming by herself! Piper was scared, but once I brought her into the water with me (against her will) then she liked it and was good!

Getting two kids to sleep in the same hotel room is a challenge! Especially when Steve doesn't feel good and wants to be asleep and it's 9:30 and I'm not really THAT ready for bed on a Friday! But by 10:30 we were all out!

 

We woke up and slowly got ready, we were in no hurry and had no timeline which was nice. We got in the zoo about 10:30 (after fighting the crowds waiting for tickets! I had to find my patience!)

The penguins were my favorite!!!!

Presley like the giraffes....their tongues are so long and gross!

This gorilla sat on this viewing bubble, you could stand in it with him right above you! It was pretty cool to watch him look down at people, their hands pressed up against his. Then he threw up in one hand and started scooping it into this mouth with the other, it was really gross!

The orangutans had a new baby! So new and so cute!

Then we tried the merry-go-round. This was Piper's first time. Again, we just had to make her do it....she resisted at first but then LOVED it!

I was so proud of her liking this (hopefully this will continue for Adventureland in a couple weeks!)

Daddy's girl Piper watching the polar bear with daddy!

I thought this thing was fake. It wasn't.

Turkey vulture looking straight at me.

 

We left about 3 and headed home. Piper fell asleep within minutes and Presley kept herself occupied with the ipad. About a 1/2 hour outside of DSM, Presley asked literally every minute when we were going to be home. Piper finally woke up and we decided we were going to risk one more outing with them, Texas Roadhouse for dinner. There was a 30 minute wait, but since it was nice outside they could run around a little so it wasn't too bad. They did pretty good at dinner, it's a good thing it is loud in there so people can't hear them fighting or being whiny, but overall we have definitely had worse experiences with them (maybe our expectations are very low for them at this point?!).

 

It was still nice to get home, unpacked, showered and have some time to chill before we all crashed! The best part of doing Friday/Saturday? We still have ALL Sunday at home to get stuff done! Target, groceries, laundry, some sprinker time outside, then we went to Mary's birthday party (Steve worked on the shed from about noon to 5 and it's almost ready for siding!). Busy weekend, but worth it!

Piper

As I mentioned a couple times in my last couple posts Piper was very clingy all weekend. She didn't really eat and had broken out in a rash that started Fridayand got worse Saturday, but she acted normal for the most part and had slept good.
Sunday night at mom's we decided that she shouldn't go to daycare on Monday until we figure out what was going on. And she slept like crap Sunday night, broke out with a fever. I dropped her off at mom's Monday morning and she took her to the doctor for us that morning.....strep!

Work was slow enough that I was able to take today off and stay home with her. Good thing since she was up most of last night, just hanging out in bed with me, talking, playing. She'd get down and go to her room and get her pillow, come back. Get down, go back and get a diaper and wipes, then would want milk. It was a long night. At least we were able to sleep in this morning!

Sunday Funday

 Sunday we were finally able to get the skydiving scheduled....3rd time is a charm. Our family gave Andrea skydiving as a highschool graduation present....LAST spring and it has taken 2 reschedules to finally make it work. I woke up the girls, got ready and headed to Winterset about 8 Sunday morning (Steve was working on the shed again).

The kids were pretty good and kept themselves busy...as this isn't a fast process especially when we had 3 people jumping and they had to go up individually.

The three jumpers!

Piper's favorite person (besides Daddy) is Scott!

There goes Andrea!

I came out of the building to see everyone with their hands in the air blocking the sun...Piper walked out there and stuck her hand in the air too, she didn't want to be left out!

I love this picture...you can really tell how far away they are. The darker spot in the lower left hand corner is the camera guy. The white spot near the middle is Andrea.

 

J

I couldn't get a picture of Andrea landing b/c the wind took them too far to the east and so they ended up landing past the cornfield, in the dirt road, nearly hitting a cop car!

 

Then Daddy went up! This is his 3rd time going.

 

And he landed behind a building!

 There is a good amount of time between each jumper, we got there about 8:45 and didn't leave until almost noon. We kept busy talking, hanging out in the shade enjoying the breeze!

Finally Scott went up! Piper cried b/c he didn't wait for her!

And I finally got a picture of them landing!

We headed home and Piper just wanted to go straight to bed...no lunch, just wanted her paci, blanket and a nap....um, ok. She went down, Presley and I played a while and then I laid down to take a short nap too (I was up too late and up too early!). Then it was time to head to mom's for Samantha's birthday dinner! Piper was again, very clingy but Presley and Boston played good and Pa even put the sprinker at the end of the Moellercoaster! Dinner was great and we had so many debates this night (two of them being Kaitlyn Jenner and the confederate flag)! Overall a great busy weekend and the kids were good! :)